There are a few core practices schools should be implementing to help their website rank high in search engines like Google. Here we outline how you can improve your school’s visibility to prospective international students with the clever use of keywords, location-based searches, and multilingual content.
Start by identifying terms that your target audience commonly uses in their searches, such as ‘study abroad programmes’ or ‘best universities for [specific field]’. However, don’t just stop at general terms. Many international students search for educational opportunities in specific locations, so optimise your website for these searches by:
Incorporate these keywords naturally into your website’s content, meta descriptions, and headers for best results.
To truly reach a global audience, your website needs to speak their language—literally. Do this by creating high-quality translations of your content in languages relevant to your target markets. But remember, effective multilingual SEO goes beyond mere translation. Use hreflang tags to tell search engines which language you’re using on a specific page. This helps ensure that users see the most appropriate version of your site based on their language preferences. Additionally, consider localising your URLs, for example, studyprogrammes.com/es/ for Spanish pages, to further optimise for international searches.
By focusing on these key areas – strategic use of keywords, location-based search optimisation and multilingual content – you can significantly improve your website's visibility to international students. Remember to regularly update your SEO strategy to stay competitive in the ever-evolving education industry and get in touch with us if you need more specialised support for your school.
Written by Stephanie Clark